Transatlanticism received acclaim from critics when it was released and has since been considered the band's greatest album. The album charted at number 97 on the Billboard 200, and has been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for shipments of 500,000 copies in the United States. In 2013, Barsuk Records released Transatlanticism Demos, a collection of demo versions of songs from Transatlanticism to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the album's release.

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Similar to all previous Death Cab for Cutie releases, Transtlanticism was mostly written by lead vocalist and guitaristBen Gibbard, with many of the songs co-written with other members of the band, particularly guitarist and producerChris Walla. Prior to the album's release, Gibbard stated: "...unlike The Photo Album, I feel like this record is definitely more like a proper album. We’ve tried to construct it with transitions of songs going in and out of each other, and I think it's a little bit more expansive than the last record."[2]

The album is the first to feature drummer Jason McGerr, who joined the band earlier in 2003, and features writing credits on the songs "The New Year", and "We Looked Like Giants".[3]

Transatlanticism was released to widespread acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 85, based on 21 reviews.[16]Uncut magazine called it "a record of rare beauty and poise",[13] and Alternative Press called it "Death Cab's slowest and most mature recording" with "hidden bits of magic [that] reveal themselves brilliantly."[5] Andy Greenwald of Spin found the lyrics' imagery to be strikingly vivid and praised both Gibbard and producer Chris Walla's musical direction.[11] Rob Theakston of AllMusic wrote that Transatlanticism is "such a decadently good listen from start to finish" because of the band's maturity as songwriters and musicians.[4]Stephen Thompson, writing in The A.V. Club, said that the album "surpasses Gibbard's other career highpoints" and called it "a lush, impeccably produced, musically adventurous, emotionally resonant examination of the way relationships are both strengthened and damaged by distance".[17] Christine Klunk of PopMatters called it a "nearly perfect pop record" whose straightforward melodies and honest narratives extol the human condition.[18]

In a mixed review, William Morris from Pitchfork Media felt that the album "dulls the edges of their usually acute divinations".[8] Colin McElligatt of Stylus Magazine said that despite his strong melodies, Gibbard has regressed as a lyricist, as his lyrics are more "asinine" than before.[19]Robert Christgau of The Village Voice cited "We Looked Like Giants" as a "choice cut",[20] indicating "a good song on an album that isn't worth your time or money".[21]

In 2011, Transatlanticism was named by NPR Music as one of the fifty most important recordings of the decade,[22] ranked 57th in Rolling Stone magazine's decade-end list.[23] In 2013, Death Cab For Cutie re-released the album, marking its 10th year anniversary with a remaster available as vinyl or MP3 download, including demos for all the songs from the album.[24] Reviewing the reissue, Ian Cohen from Pitchfork Media reconsidered William Morris' initial assessment of the album and awarded the album a higher score, stating that "judging Death Cab, and Transatlanticism in particular, from a completely objective standpoint feels kinda insincere and wholly inaccurate."[25]